


A Little Bit Unsteady

by romantichopelessly



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: F/M, First Meetings, M/M, Past Stagedorks, Rollerblades & Rollerskates, doggo - Freeform, they're best friends now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-14 05:57:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16907385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/romantichopelessly/pseuds/romantichopelessly
Summary: “Christine, are you sure that I have to do this?” Jeremy looked down at the red and white roller skates that he was wobbling precariously on.“Jeremy, I’ve been trying to get you to come here with me for weeks! You have to at least try. Don’t look at me like that. You’re not going to fall, I promise.”“I’ve already fallen two times and we haven’t even started!”





	A Little Bit Unsteady

**Author's Note:**

> Uploaded from my BMC Tumblr @/living-the-upgrade

“Christine, are you sure that I have to do this?” Jeremy looked down at the red and white roller skates that he was wobbling precariously on.

“Jeremy, I’ve been trying to get you to come here with me for weeks! You have to at least try. Don’t look at me like that. You’re not going to fall, I promise.”

“I’ve already fallen two times and we haven’t even started!”

Christine crossed her arms over her bright yellow dress and frowned at him. He knew that frown. The ‘Jeremy Heere if you don’t stop contradicting me, I will not hesitate to put you on set duty for the rest of your life’ frown.

Jeremy took a shaky breath. Christine had first brought up the idea of going roller skating in the park about three weeks ago. The original plan had involved Brooke and Chloe joining them, but Brooke had recently gotten the flu and Chloe decided to stay with her roommate to make sure that she was alright.

Jeremy had pushed off the activity for as long as he could for two reasons. One, he wasn’t quite sure where he and Christine stood after their break up two months ago. They hadn’t hung out outside of their theatre classes since they mutually decided to cut things off. And two, Jeremiah Heere was the world’s greatest klutz.

He wasn’t lying when he had said he tripped twice before he even put the skates on. Having long, uncontrollable limbs and anxiety was not a very good combination.

However, Christine’s frown was always convincing. Jeremy released a shaky breath and nervously took one step forward.

And immediately fell on his ass, letting out an indignant shriek.

“Christine!!”

Christine looked like she was trying her very best not to laugh. She glided over gracefully from where she had been a few feet away, offering him a hand.

“It’s all about balance. And a positive mentality.” She pulled him to his feet and released his hand, skating ahead, not even looking at her feet.

“I don’t have either of those things.”

Christine sighed, rolling back to her friend. “Come on.” She linked her left arm with his right and started pulling him forward. “Just keep your eyes on your feet for now. Watch mine and try to match what I do.”

It took fifteen minutes, but eventually Jeremy was tentatively moving his feet in time with Christine’s. His eyes never left the ground as he moved forward.

“You’re getting it!” Christine exclaimed, removing her arms from his and speeding up.

Jeremy looked up, alarmed, “W-Wait- you can’t just-“

“Come on, Jeremy, trust yourself. You’ve got this. Now come on! I bet I can beat you to the popsicle stand!” With that, the girl turned back around and took off down the sidewalk.

Jeremy cursed under his breath. Perfect. Left to fall and die by his own best friend. This was probably payback for the time he left her at the movies during a date because someone he didn’t know sat beside him and chewed loudly.

Jeremy stared down at the overly large, overly bright wheels laced onto his feet helplessly.

He couldn’t just stand here. People would start to notice. And then he’d be the idiot twenty year old that couldn’t move on roller skates.

He couldn’t sit down and take off the skates. That would be pathetic. Plus, his converse were all the way back at the skate rental station. No way was he walking back in his socks.

Out of options, Jeremy began to move his feet as he was before, albeit less smoothly. The popsicle stand wasn’t too far ahead. He’d get there, take off the skates, buy a lemon pop and walk back to the skate rental with Christine.

Easy as pie.

Except for the fact that Jeremy was concentrating so hard on his feet that he wasn’t looking where he was going and didn’t see the large yellow dog bound onto the sidewalk in pursuit of a tennis ball until it was too late. He let out an undignified screech that did nothing to stop the impending collision. Jeremy tumbled over the dog, flailing his arms wildly, and face planted right into the concrete.

“Manny!!”

Jeremy, regaining his breath, pushed himself onto his back with his hands. A fluffy yellow shibe stared down at him with wide eyes, it’s tennis ball prize in it’s mouth.

It was actually a really cute dog, Jeremy thought as he pushed himself into a sitting position, rubbing his head. He looked up to see where the dog had come from, an apology already on the tip of his tongue when he had the breath knocked out of him for the second time in five minutes.

The dog’s owner was jogging over, his hair a mess and glasses askew. He wore a bright red hoodie and jeans, despite the warm weather. He had dark, soft looking skin and as he got closer, Jeremy could see deeper brown eyes behind the glasses.

The guy was cuter than his dog. Way cuter.

And Jeremy was sitting on the ground, staring up at him with a probably bruising face and his mouth hanging open like an idiot.

“Oh, god, paumanhin, I’m so sorry, she was just chasing her ball and she must not have seen you, I should have been paying more attention, I-“

Jeremy wanted to say something cool. He wanted to say something that would reassure the gorgeous man that he wasn’t mad. That he didn’t care at all and that he probably would have fallen anyway and that it was totally his fault and maybe ask for the guy’s number. Instead..

“You have a female dog named Manny?”

The man blinked and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, glancing at the dog and then back at Jeremy. “Uh… it’s actually uh…” the guy’s face grew a shade darker as he spoke, “It’s short for uh… ManCrusher 69000.”

Jeremy turned towards the bright yellow, fluffy dog who had dropped the ball and was now rolling around in the grass. He burst into the most embarrassing laugh he had ever let out in front of a stranger. Giggles, snorts and all, Jeremy laughed at the fact that he was flat on his ass in front of a cute stranger who had a cute dog that had the worst fucking name he had ever heard.

“M-ManCrusher-“

The man cracked a smile (the most beautiful smile Jeremy felt he’d ever seen) and crossed his arms defensively, “Look, I didn’t name her. My friend Rich has this dog who had puppies and when I said I wanted one, he thought it would be absolutely hysterical to train the last one to only respond to that stupid name. Now she will forever be ManCrusher 69000 and I will forever have a cute dog with a stupid name.”

Jeremy stifled his giggles with a hand and reached over with the other to pet Manny. She was soft and leaned into his touch happily.

“She likes you.”

Jeremy looked up at the stranger and offered a lopsided smile, “I love a girl who can really knock me off my feet. Though most people can, I’m about as graceful as that all the time.”

The man smiled wider and held out a hand, “I’m Michael. Mell.”

Jeremy felt a blush rising to his cheeks and focused on the dog licking his left hand as he let the guy- Michael- help him to his feet.

“Uh… Jeremy. Um.. Heere. Yeah, Heere. With uh… with two E’s. Well, three total, but two before the R and-“

Michael gave an amused smile as he interrupted Jeremy’s ramblings, “I’ll make sure to write that down.”

Jeremy blushed further, “You uh.. you do that.”

Michael looked down pointedly at their joined hands and back up at Jeremy’s red face, “As much as I like holding hands with cute boys, shouldn’t you buy me dinner first?”

Jeremy pulled his hand back as if he’d been burned, blushing to his ears. However, the sudden movement unbalanced him and he wobbled backwards on the clunky skates. Michael reached forward and caught him by his shoulder.

“On second thought, maybe I should hold onto you.”

Jeremy covered his burning face with his hand and made a garbled noise. God, he couldn’t even hold it together for two seconds, could he?

“So where exactly were you going? I’ll help you get there.”

“The um… the popsicle stand. My- My friend- she’s waiting for me. Probably thinks I’ve died by now, actually.”

Michael laughed and linked his arm with Jeremy’s, just as Christine had earlier. Somehow, this felt.. warmer. Jeremy was quite sure that he looked like a tomato at this point. Michael pulled him further easily. He was only slightly shorter than Jeremy, even though he was wearing the huge skates. Manny followed along beside, happily waving her tail.

“So, Jeremy Heere with three E’s, you live around here?”

“Uh.. yeah. I take some theatre classes uptown. Christine- my friend- takes them with me.”

“Really?” Michael looked over at Jeremy with wide eyes, “An actor? You’re an actor?”

Jeremy, barely noticing that he was no longer looking at his feet, blinked, “Is it that unbelievable?”

“No! You’re just… not what I expected.”

The two fell silent, Jeremy focusing once again on his feet as they made their way down the sidewalk.

“I like your shirt by the way.” Jeremy self consciously picked at the hem of his Legend of Zelda t-shirt that he had pulled on earlier under his regular cardigan. “I was gonna name Manny Zelda, actually.”

The Shiba Inu barked happily at the sound of her name and Michael chuckled.

“Really? That’s so cool!! I used to have a hamster named Link!” Jeremy smiled brightly.

“That’s so cool! When I was in grade school, I was so in love with Link.” Michael looked down and stuffed his free hand into his hoodie pocket. Good lord, was he cute.

Jeremy opened his mouth to say more when he realized that they had reached the popsicle stand.

“Jeremy!! Where have you been? I was almost getting worried!” Christine skated over to him before halting at the sight of Michael.

“Um… Christine… this is Michael. He attacked me with his dog.”

“Wh- I did not! You attacked her!!! And I helped you out!!”

Christine had a peculiar expression on her face. “I’ll just… go get you your popsicle, Jeremy.” She turned and rolled off to the cash register. Jeremy watched her go nervously, suddenly all the more aware of how he was touching the cute guy that he had just met.

“Well… um…. y-you think you can stand up on your own now?”

“Oh! Right- yeah.” Jeremy pulled away quickly and held onto a nearby bench for support. Michael shoved his now free hand into his pocket, where Jeremy could tell it was fidgeting with the cord to the headphones around his neck.

Jeremy took a shaky breath and watched Michael as he looked off into the distance. He was so cute.

Just as Michael looked like he was about to break the silence, Christine came back with two brightly colored popsicles in her hands.

“Jeremy, we have to get going if we’re going to make it to practice this afternoon.”

“Oh! Right- Uh…” Jeremy bit his lip and tried his hardest not to look at Michael. He took his treat from Christine and grabbed onto her shoulder for balance.

“Wait!!” Jeremy turned around so quickly he almost fell for the fifth time that day. “Can I um… can I have your number?”

Jeremy’s eyes widened and his face reddened so quickly that he felt lightheaded. Luckily, Christine reached into her pocket and pulled out a napkin with pink numbers inked on it. “I already wrote it down for you. He’s free on Thursday’s.”

With that, Christine turned and pulled Jeremy off to play rehearsal, leaving a slightly pink boy and his dog behind.


End file.
